Cannabis PAC is No Joke

By
Dave Levinthal, Politico
on August 29, 2012

Make your joke about how a pro-pot political action committee might raise and spend its cash.

But leaders of the National Cannabis Industry Association PAC, which officially formed Wednesday, say they’re stone-cold serious about navigating D.C.’s corridors of power and money by traditional means.

The PAC plans to solicit association members for start-up funding later this year then begin attending congressional fundraisers and otherwise hobnobbing with lawmakers in early 2013, Treasurer Steve Fox says.

Its short-term goal? Financially support lawmakers who back expanded rights for legitimate marijuana businesses, and perhaps, change some minds along the way, Fox said.

“We want people to appreciate, at the very least, that there are hundreds of legal, state-licensed cannabis businesses operating, and that they need to be represented on the federal level,” he said, adding that banking access and fair taxation are two of the association’s primary causes.